Monday, January 30. 2006

I needed a good way, outside of Streets and Trips, to convert an address to GPS and my friend Jorge found that http://www.maporama.com will tell you the information you need.

I'm a bit of a GPS geek so that's why my entries lately have been 'tagged'.

Streets and Trips 2006 will give you voice guided directions, step by step, from your current location. That feature alone is worth upgrading from 2005.

I'm home (very) sick from work today, so what did I do? My taxes. I swear I'm not a workaholic. Honest.
I just need a few last interest statements/etc and I'll be able to file it but 99% of the legwork is done.
It is weird but I'll be paying my property taxes with my federal tax return, if I file in time.

Thursday, January 26. 2006

Here is an article, I don't know where it is from since it is uncredited, about the Wheelies right after the release of Magnolia. Even this small article gives you a sense of 'down to earthness' that was the Wheelies.

[snip]

Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies rolls with the punches

(May 2, 1996)

This just isn't Mike Farris' day.

His band, the Nashville-based Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, has arrived late in Seattle and their hotel has jumbled up their reservations. He is forced to use a streetside phone booth to talk about his favorite subject, the Wheelies' second Atlantic album, "Magnolia."

He nearly chokes up recalling a fan who came to a show and delivered him a poem.

"He had written it telling us how our first album helped him through some hard times, that he had lost his wife," Farris said. "I just wanted to sit him down and let him know me as a friend and not feel weird about talking to a singer in a rock 'n' roll band."

Farris' tender moment is interrupted by a woman who demands to use the phone. She calls him several derogatory names and even takes a swing at him. Her boyfriend considers stepping in, but by then, Farris has already left and says he will call back.

Minutes later, Farris sneaks into a Moose Lodge nearby to use the phone. With his long, stringy hair, he stands out like a sore thumb. Unfazed by all that has happened in the past 20 minutes, he reveals the inspiration behind the album's first single, "Hello From Venus."

"I went home and found out they were going to build a car plant on farmland I was raised on," Farris said. "All my friends kept saying, 'Things are changing around here.' But people were strung out on crank, nothing had changed. I'm thinking, 'It's only going to get worse.'

"I was upset they were doing this to my old neighborhood. A whole flood of emotions came out. When something like that happens, it's like some part of you is dying. It makes you wonder, 'What are we doing? We're destroying everything.' "

"I wrote ('Hello From Venus') partly through the eyes of a person praying to God like a friend, an intimate conversation," he said. "It just breaks my heart to see what's happened in my hometown."

The gutsy rock quintet has learned a lot since its first album, Farris said, mainly to be patient.

"We didn't know what was going on the first time around," he said. "We just wanted to do our songs, and the label said we'd be stars. I learned not to take it too seriously. That doesn't feed me; I don't thrive off being successful. We're just out doing what we do best."

One of my favorite albums from the 90s is playing right now on my laptop. It makes me incredibly sad how the music business can let a very talented band die on the vine, while Kelly Osborne is still putting out albums. I followed the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies ever since I first heard 'Shakin' the Blues' on a local radio station. They had a sound of their own, and most importantly, were playing music for the right reason.

They played because they liked to play. A true plug and play band. Awesome live shows. They finally threw in the towel last year when Mike Farris decided to leave "the business". I can't blame him. Left behind are the albums and the live shows, if you can find them. He was going to be the new singer for Double Trouble at one point and also put out a great solo CD.

So, if you are looking for some 'new' music, pick up Magnolia. It will rock you. Listen to it a few times before giving up, and it will make sense. You can still get it from Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/85833

Somewhere I still have my SCW 24-7-365 shirt from the Magnolia tour. Class act bunch of guys. Easy to talk to before and after a show. If anyone has any live shows, please get in contact with me, I'm seriously lacking. I'm particularly looking for their version of Black Sabbath's "Wizard" and a good live version of "Rubbermaid Fiance"

Saturday, January 14. 2006

Just when I was thinking about cancelling HDNet because I never seem to find anything I want to watch/PVR on it, this comes along:

Sun., Jan. 15th 9:00 PM ET

Velvet Revolver - Live in Houston - Premiere
A concert that follows the release of their self-titled first album, Velvet Revolver. The five-man powerhouse rock band finally brings something new to the scene. While Velvet Revolver inevitably offers a few echoes of its members' illustrious pasts, their sound is defiantly forward-looking and truly fresh. The band features Guns N' Roses founding members Slash and Duff, as well as Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland.

Monday, January 9. 2006

I hate having to enable CAPTCHA (you know, the 'enter this hard to read code' junk you see on a lot of websites), but due to the (expected) spamming I have been getting more and more as this web address gets out to more and more places, I had to do it. I think it stifles the amount of real comments things get but I guess that's the price we pay.

So, if you get anything out of this, is to educate people not to click links from spammed ads. The less effective they are, the better. They obviously have to be selling and making a profit. It just worries me that there really are that many people with sexual disfunctions and gambling problems. Drug companies should just start up online casinos and kill 2 birds with one stone.